Pioneer DVR-520H - Help With Editing!

[Rick58]

I received my Pioneer DVR-520H recorder a few days ago and I've been trying to understand the editing process. I've read and reread the manual but I still have some questions. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
I'll use this scenario - I've recorded a television broadcast to the HDD that I'd like to save permanently to disc. I want to remove the commercials. My question regarding this procedure is should I do the editing on the HDD or should I copy the program to a DVD-RW, do the editing, copy back to the HDD and then make a final copy to a DVD-R?
Please explain how VR mode works.

Thanks for taking the time to help me out.

Rick

[markwill]

Originally posted by Rick58
I received my Pioneer DVR-520H recorder a few days ago and I've been trying to understand the editing process. I've read and reread the manual but I still have some questions. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
I'll use this scenario - I've recorded a television broadcast to the HDD that I'd like to save permanently to disc. I want to remove the commercials. My question regarding this procedure is should I do the editing on the HDD or should I copy the program to a DVD-RW, do the editing, copy back to the HDD and then make a final copy to a DVD-R?
Please explain how VR mode works.

Thanks for taking the time to help me out.

Rick
I have had my 520 for less than a week so take this with a pinch of salt but I believe you have three broad options:
[list=1]
Edit on the hard disk then burn to DVD.
Edit as part of the Copy List then burn to DVD.
Copy to DVD, edit, copy back to hard disk then burn to DVD.
[/list=1]
I have been using option 1 most but I saw one comment to suggest that option 2 may have benefits. It is true that when you edit on hard disk you edit the original content whereas with a Copy List to edit what will be copied (the original remains available). Someone mentioned that he'd see option 1 require a reboot of the recorder but I haven't seen that yet (I did THINK I had seen it when the thing froze for 15 seconds or so when I was editing directly) but it cleared up and I continued fine.

I see very little reason to use option 3.

Thanks.

Mark

[EPlay]

I only use option #2 noted by markwill above, which is editing in a "Copy List". (Just go into "Home Menu", choose "Copy", then HDD to DVD. After you add your program to the "copy list", you can use "erase sect" to remove all the commercials. I find it much easier if I insert the chapter marks around the commercials when I watch the show originally from the hard drive. I can take out all the commercials in the "copy list" in under 5 minutes.)

The copy list will preserve your original just in case you make an error. More importantly, because it is not actually editing the original but making reference to the original during copying, it may prevent defrag problems like those which appear on the Panasonic.

[Rick58]

Thanks very much for taking time to help me out. I've just successfully burned my first disc and I'm really pleased with the results! I created a Copy List consisting of a program that I edited the other evening on the hard drive and one that I edited this afternoon after adding it to the Copy List.
Once again, thanks.

Regards,
Rick

[markwill]

Originally posted by Rick58
Thanks very much for taking time to help me out. I've just successfully burned my first disc and I'm really pleased with the results! I created a Copy List consisting of a program that I edited the other evening on the hard drive and one that I edited this afternoon after adding it to the Copy List.
Once again, thanks.

Regards,
Rick
I like the process too :-) I found the whole thing very intuitive and pretty quick. BTW, a few options of which you may not be aware:


If you want to see the picture quality BEFORE deciding what to use when you record to hard disk, you can play your content and change the quality on the fly. You'll see a Preview option that allows you to pretty much fine tune what is acceptable (and, as you change that perameter it will also tell you how much DVD space will be used). Neat!
You can burn to DVD in high speed if you retain the same quality mode. If you want to change it (between hard disk and DVD) then you will need to dub in real time. For me this translates into trying to decide before I save to disk what quality mode I will want. If I get it right then I can dub at high speed. If I am unsure (want to decide later) I record in Fine mode and accept that I may have to change later (especially if the program is more than one hour) and therefore dub in real time.

I really like the flexibility that the recorder offers here, especially since this is all lossless and it can dub at up to 8x speed (to the DVD).

Aside from my Tivo (years ago now) and my Roku Soundbridge, I can't recall being this pleased with a purchase :-)

Mark

[zorro18]

[QUOTE=EPlay]I only use option #2 noted by markwill above, which is editing in a "Copy List". (Just go into "Home Menu", choose "Copy", then HDD to DVD. After you add your program to the "copy list", you can use "erase sect" to remove all the commercials. I find it much easier if I insert the chapter marks around the commercials when I watch the show originally from the hard drive. I can take out all the commercials in the "copy list" in under 5 minutes.)

The copy list will preserve your original just in case you make an error. More importantly, because it is not actually editing the original but making reference to the original during copying, it may prevent defrag problems like those which appear on the Panasonic.[/QUOTE]

Which button should I use to insert chapter marks at the start and end of commercials? Is it the Navi-mark button or the Chp-Mark button? Sorry, am a idiot when comes to editing on my Pio 510 dvd recorder. Had it for 4 mths but to damn scared to venture further other than HDD recording and playback.

Also, I do not intend to burn to a DVD for my TV recordings. Here what I like to do:

1. Record program to HDD
2. Edit recorded program in HDD to exclude commercials
- am still grappling with the know-how.
3. Watch the edited recording (sans commercials) on HDD

[HealeyGuy]

Do the marking of commercials with the Chp-Mark button. The Navi-Mark is for selecting what frame is displayed as the Title thumbnail image when you finalize a video-mode DVD. I believe it also sets the frame that the motion thumbnails start with in the Navigator window.

Keep the manual handy. I think I reread parts of my manual for two or three months and kept finding new things to learn.